Chocolate
by Shuck
Summary: Regardless of how small or insignificant she and her actions may be in the face of his sorrows, she is happy at least, to make him smile. Xiaoyu & Jin


**Chocolate**

He is clearly in no mood.

Xiaoyu balances herself cat-like on the ledge where Jin sits. The boy is forlorn, barely glances at his pig-tailed friend as he stares out at the lonely schoolyard. The sun is setting and the world is pink, the straggling students make their way home, all prance and laughter like cheerful, oblivious ants that Jin perhaps envies with that vague gaze.

Xiaoyu unslings her schoolbag, chucks it next to Jin's and settles herself beside the Kazama youth. She watches him carefully. They've been friends for two years and she is proud to admit that in that time she has come to read his moods, understand his mannerisms and what his eyes can speak when words don't come; Jin Kazama is a quiet, tightly closed book.

She looks carefully as he watches the sunset. His jaw is hard, lips a line of painful thought. His eyes are sharp but glassy, like little broken shards that glimmer of sadness in the fading light. She has not seen Jin in any class that day yet somehow she could feel his presence during the day and has come to find him here. Jin turns just a moment to look at her, to communicate something that she can't see from where she sits to his right; she stifles her gasp at the blotch on his face: an ugly bruise that mars the soft wood of his left eye.

She can't speak though speech is all Xiaoyu is known to do. But Jin is different. He is a quiet, wilted thing that begs understanding. He speaks volumes to her childish heart that hints on something more adult, greater and wider than her world of candyfloss and rollercoasters and for all her optimism and romance she is drawn to something greater within him that extends further than her girlish feelings for him.

She knows she'd give anything to see him smile.

She gives him one small pat on the knee to which there is no response, and she joins him in staring out at the sunset. She hears the shouts of the students below, of chatter and laughter about weekend plans and thinks that once her life was like that too; carefree and simple and free from worry. It still is in most ways, but it's forever affected by the despair of her friend, of Jin's evident pain. She knows little of why his grandfather is so harsh on Jin, about his past or what he keeps secret within himself, but it's almost torture, a constant thought during every frivolous activity.

It's a harmless attempt, some small hope, but with the crinkling of foil and the tearing of paper, Xiaoyu holds the end of a chocolate block in her hand, much like a timid child feeding some new and frightening animal. Jin's brow raises but his expression does not change; it's several moments of strange, breathless silence before slowly he takes it from between her milky fingertips and pops it into his mouth.

She smiles and lets out her breath. She glances at the chocolate bar in her hand then back up to Jin, the boy having made short work of his piece. He glances at her just then, his expression softer, and with a coy look Xiaoyu tilts her head and waves the chocolate bar in her hand.

He finally smiles back.

She hands him the bar, less interested in her treat than she is with Jin. He takes it, inspects it for a moment before he breaks off another bar, hands a piece to his pig-tailed companion before taking another himself. Xiaoyu takes it without a word, savours the taste and sidles up a little closer to her friend. Neither speaks as the Kazama male continues to divide the bar between himself and her, the pair content to sit in silence and eat.

The sun sinks fast and makes the world gold. The encroaching darkness at the corners of the city is heavy, fading quickly from soft royal to dark navy. Jin's face is darkened by the fading light, the marking at his face is shadowed and ugly and horrible, but his eyes glint in the light: a mirror for the tiny specks of starlight hanging on the fringes of the evening darkness.

He won't speak and whilst that upsets Xiaoyu she thinks she can understand. Some things you just can't talk about, maybe just not with certain people. She wishes she could be one of those people, but maybe she was a little too immature to get it. Though Jin seemed to like her, to trust her company and that was more than enough to settle her.

Jin is strong. Burdened but stoic, and regardless of how small or insignificant she and her actions may be in the face of his sorrows, she is happy at least, to make him smile.


End file.
